Equity Speaker Series

Equity Speaker Series: Rise by Lifting

The goal of the DVC Speaker Series: Education, Equity, and Inclusivity, is to provide
safe space to identify, discuss and create solutions towards the academic and social
challenges our disenfranchised low-income and communities of color face in order to
gain access to equitable education and economic resources.

The Education, Equity and Inclusivity Speaker Series will increase engagement and
inclusion across multiple identities; Enhance social equity and institutional access;
co-create and support initiatives that promote diversity, social justice, empowerment,
and community.

Upcoming events:

Past speakers -

November 14, 2018: Ehron Tool - Conversations about "unspeakable things": The power of a cup

Erhen Tool is an artist whose work is heavily influenced by his service in the Marine
Corps and his subsequent return to the civilian world. He received his MFA in 2005
from the University of California, Berkeley. Tool has made and given away over 20,000
cups since 2001. He uses his pottery wheel to make cups that expose the large disparity
between fiction and the realities of war. For the artist, each cup represents a human
life. He uses the utilitarian objects’ familiar form to engage the user in a dialogue
with the graphic photographs and press-molded war paraphernalia used to decorate each
cup’s surface. Tool just makes cups and believes peace is the only adequate war memorial.

The post-9/11 era in the U.S. has exposed a significant degree of prejudice and bigotry
towards Muslim people. More recently, as a result of the 2016 Presidential election,
broad vilification of Muslims has served political agendas resulting in calls for
bans, registries and other civil liberty threats to the lives of Muslims in America.
In 2012, a violent hate-motivated attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin highlighted
the fact that Islamophobia is not just an issue that impacts Muslims in America. Meanwhile,
there continues to be widespread racial profiling, hate crimes and bullying throughout
the country. This program will benefit participants interested in learning more about
Islam and Islamophobia, providing needed context to bridge divides. For more information
about Dr. Amer Ahmed, visit: http://www.amerfahmed.com

Diana Abu-Jaber is a memoirist, food writer, and fiction writer. Born in Syracuse,
NY, to a Jordanian immigrant father and a Catholic-Irish mother, Abu-Jaber writes
about her experiences negotiating her cross-cultural identity and Arab background
in America. Her novel Birds of Paradise won the Arab American National Book Award
in fiction in 2012. Her novel Origin was named one of the best books of the year by
the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post. In her talk Abu-Jaber
will discuss the times she has been told to stop talking and to keep her stories hidden.
She will also tell about the ways to develop resilience and discipline, how to keep
right on talking, and how to tell your story in the ways you want to tell it. For
more information about Diana Abu-Jaber, visit:http://www.dianaabujaber.com

September 20, 2018: Dr. Alfonso Gonzales - Derechos en crisis: Mexican and Central American refugees and the demise of democracy

Since 2008, the US government has granted asylum to less than 5% of all Mexican and
Central American asylum seekers who have requested it, despite the severe levels of
violence in the Mesoamerican region. Dr. Gonzales will discuss how the asylum-detention
regime came to grant so few claims while instituting coercive family detention and
family separation policies. He will argue that since the 1980s the asylum regime has
been configured to selectively produce migrant illegality and detain ability. For
more information about Dr. Alfonso Gonzales, visit: http://ethnicstudies.ucr.edu/people/faculty/gonzales/index.html

April 19, 2018: Thui Bui - The Best We Could Do

Graphic memoirist Thi Bui will present on The Best We Could Do, a poignant true story
portraying her family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam to California. This intimate,
beautifully composed text sheds light on the refugee experience. Famed author Maxine
Hong Kingston has said of Bui’s work, “The Best We Could Do honors Vietnam the way
Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis honors Iran.”

March 14, 2018: Catherine Kudlick - Understanding Disability through the Lens of Diversity

Catherine Kudlick speaks to a different way of viewing disability, not as an obstacle
to be overcome, nor as a source of inspiration, but as an element of human diversity.
Dr. Kudlick was born blind and now sees 20 percent of what most people can see, yet
she participates in all the activities that others do. Disability can foster ingenuity,
excitement and engagement in those who experience it, as it did in her.

Khalid el-Hakim (the “hip hop generation’s Arthur Schomburg”) is returning to DVC
with the Black History 101 Mobile Museum featuring some 7,000 original artifacts of
Black memorabilia. The museum’s historical context leads up to '68 with original material
from the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the Jim Crow era. Also included in the exhibit
is a 45-60 minute multi-media lecture by Professor Griff of Public Enemy who will
speak on how that era inspired the work of Public Enemy. The Mobile Museum will be
open all day. Khalid El Hakim will be available to answer questions.

November 14, 2017: Dr. Keith Edwards - Ending Sexual Violence

Dr. Edwards is a scholar and educator on sexual violence prevention, men’s identity,
social justice education, curricular approaches, and leadership. Over the past 15
years, he has been speaking on college campuses nationally on sexual violence prevention,
men’s identity, social justice education, ally development, leadership, sustainability,
and student affairs leadership. Attendees will leave the presentation with a vivid
understanding of what we can do to confront the messages around us that foster a culture
of violence.

October 18, 2017: Sarahi Salamanca - A Road to Activism

Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca is the Founder and CEO of DREAMers Roadmap, a mobile app
platform that helps undocumented students navigate the necessary resources to access
higher education. This is Sarahi’s latest project in a longer trajectory of activism
within and for the undocumented community, which have placed her in the spotlight
of continued conversations centered on national immigration policy. Sarahi was a Champion
of Change at the White House in 2014, has received 2 House of Representatives Awards,
and was recently named in Forbes 30 under 30. A former undocumented student who once
had to drop out of school to support her family, Sarahi’s personal experience informs
her unwavering vision: to help hundreds of thousands of Latino students eliminate
the barriers to success and achieve their full potential.

September 14, 2017: Dr. Manuel Pastor - Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation
Can Learn from America's Metro Areas

Dr. Manuel Pastor is professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity at
the University of Southern California where he also serves as Director of USC’s program
for Environmental and Regional Equity and co-Director of USC’s Center for the Study
of Immigrations Integration (CSII). As a recognized scholar and engaging speaker,
Pastor discusses issues of the economic, environmental and social conditions facing
low-income urban communities – and the social movements seeking to change those realities.
Pastor’s current research is looking at the last several decades of economic, social,
and environmental transformations in California – and what they can tell us about
the road ahead for the U.S. He brings not only a scholarly perspective to this analysis,
but also challenges his audience with optimism and humor about our ability to be part
of the evolving landscape of California.

April 12, 2017: Casualties of War

Dustin and Kelly-Ann Conover visited DVC and discussed their work with Casualties
of War, a group committed to educating and informing the public about PTSD and how
to improve support for veterans and first responders who have suffered as a result
of their loyal service.

El Comalito Collective (ECC), is a Vallejo-based art gallery and community space that
is committed to showcasing underrepresented artists and community through cultural
arts programming. Co-founders Edgar and Abel-Arturo will be discussing the role the
Arts play within marginalized communities, activism, and the current political climate.
They will also curate an exhibition in the DVC Art Gallery of artists whose works
reflect the importance of representation of narratives through a de-colonial lens.

Join us in celebrating women's history month with a screening of Just a Piece of Cloth,
a documentary about four Muslim American women from the Bay Area whose choice to wear
the hijab sparked debate but also provided an opportunity for education. The half-hour
screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q and A session with director
Rosemary Henze. As Henze notes, "these stories are not only about Muslim women; they
are about all of us and the power of our voices and stories to confront stereotypes
about 'the Other'."

November 16, 2016: Brian Copeland

This show is an unrelenting look at a ten-day period in Copeland’s life—the mandatory waiting
period before he could lay his hands on the newly purchased gun with which he planned
to take his own life. Even in the midst of this tragedy, however, his wonderful sense
of the comedy of life does not desert him. Copeland hopes this very personal and ultimately
redemptive story will reach people who struggle with depression—often called the last
stigmatized disease—as well as their families and loved ones.

October 18, 2016: Ralph Nader

To kick off the 2016-17 Equity Speaker Series, Ralph Nader will be on campus to discuss
his most recent book, Breaking Through Power. In Breaking Through Power Nader makes the case for how the nation can—and must—be democratically managed by
communities guided by the U.S. Constitution, not by the dictates of big businesses
and the wealthy few.

March 29, 2016: Tres Vidas, featuring Rosa Rodriguez

A chamber music theater work conceived and performed by Core Ensemble. A chamber music
theater work for singing actress and pianist based on the lives of three legendary
Latin American Women.

March 7, 2016: Pamela Rose

Pamela Rose is a San Francisco jazz and blues vocalist who thrills audiences locally
and internationally with her swinging, soulful style. Rose is that rare breed of entertainer
who connects solidly with her audience by always delivering a personal and unforgettable
musical experience.

Dr. Melanie Watkins is a Stanford trained, board certified psychiatrist, author, speaker,
who lives in California. She had her son Jonathan at 17 years old and, despite many
challenges, held on to her dream of becoming a physician. She specializes in a variety
of clinical services including psychiatric evaluations and consultations, medication
management, and psychotherapy. Dr. Watkins has experience in treating anxiety, depression,
bipolar disorder, psychosis, substance dependence, and personality disorders. Dr.
Watkins provides support for family members and friends of mentally ill patients who
require hospitalization and/or ongoing support. She enjoys treating adolescents and
adults. She works in a variety of settings: hospitals, jails, psychiatric emergency
rooms, and residential treatment facilities. She is the author of three books and
has written several journal articles on mental health.

May 5, 2015: Shakti ButlerA Bold Dream: Creating a World That Works for Everyone

Filmmaker and racial justice educator Shakti Butler, PhD is a master at inviting people
to see themselves as indelibly connected to each other and the world we live in. Dr.
Butler is a multiracial African-American woman (African, Arawak Indian, and Russian-Jewish)
whose work as a creative and visionary bridge builder has challenged and inspired
learning for over two decades. Her work invites her audience to grapple with both
the intellectual and emotional complexities of social justice issues.

This workshop is directed towards building the kind of discourse, reflection and exploration
that can open doorways into transformative learning, address cultural narratives and
work towards building sustainable change. This session is designed to reframe and
deepen the conversation on race, along with its intersectional relationships, that
include other forms of oppression. Participants will gain a practical framework for
understanding and deconstructing systemic racial inequities, for creating positive
dialogue and for building skills that allow us to continue the discussion.

March 18, 2015: Tyrone C. HowardRace, Equity, Justice and Education

In this interactive session, UCLA Professor Tyrone C. Howard, author of the best selling
book “Why Race and Culture Matters” will outline some of the biggest challenges facing
youth of color in today’s educational context. In addition, Professor Howard will
also discuss viable intervention, strategies, and solutions that can be taken at the
institutional, community and individual level to disrupt chronic disparities. This
address will be relevant for students, faculty, staff and concerned community members
whose works are focused on educational access and equity.

Professor Tyrone C. Howard is a Professor of Education at UCLA in the Graduate School
of Education and Information Studies’ Urban Schooling Division. He is also the Director
of Center X, which is a consortium of urban school professionals working toward social
justice and educational equity in transforming Los Angeles schools. He is also the
Director and Founder of the Black Male Institute at UCLA. Dr. Howard has been a member
on the UCLA faculty for the past 14 years. Prior to his tenure at UCLA, he was a faculty
member in the College of Education at The Ohio State University.